eReaders and eBooks have gained popularity recently and manufacturers believe that there’s a wide market waiting ahead. Aligning with similar thoughts, Sony is planning to make its Reader digital book available in several new markets this year. Countries including Japan, China and Australia, in addition to further European expansion to cover countries like Italy and Spain.
Following the launch of the Reader in the U.S. in 2006, it has been expanded to North America and Europe by the company. Sony now anticipates a potential demand in newer markets as well.
Foreseeing the demand for the product recently, especially in the Asian markets, Sony intends to commence the Reader in integration with Sony’s Reader Store for further augmentation. The virtual store will be enabled with the 10 million eBooks download along with the availability of appropriate local-language content in different countries through its own or local affiliated book stores.
“Sony continues to be a pioneer in this market, and in the years since we unveiled the first eReader, we’ve hit a global tipping point in digital reading with demand for and sales of the Reader dramatically increasing in 2009. Sony’s strategy has always been to make the Reader a global product and we’ll take a thoughtful approach to country expansion that will consider not just the hardware experience within these new countries but the content experience as well,†explained Steve Haber, president of Sony Electronics’ Digital Reading Business Division.
Now, the availability of the Reader has increased in eight countries across the world by Sony including the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Netherlands, Austria and Switzerland. Analyst firm Normura Holding has revealed that Asia is one of the fastest growing eBook and eReader markets with Japanese sales topping $500 million in 2009. Another analyst firm DisplaySearch is forecasting China to become the largest eReader market of the world by 2015.
The Reader’s local pricing and availability will be declared by Sony in Japan, China, Australia, Spain and Italy later.
